Cadvan tells the Aeneid Book IV
by PJC
Summary: Lousy title but is basic idea. Basically C tells M the story of the Aeneid book IV 4 , a beautiful story, interjected with MC moments. Will only be a few chapters, didn't want to squash it into one. Please review, my fist M C fic. MaeCad
1. Chapter 1

_Disclaimer: I own nothing, and will let you know if that alters, if nothing is said assume I still don't own them._

_Sorry if the characters are a bit OOC, trying to write a story similar to this but not having time but needed to get some form of it out there so that I can focus on my revision. So apologies in advance. Please review and tell me what you think though._

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_Second Version - Thank to BlackFir for the beta'ing of this chapter and making it understndable._

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Maerad and Cadvan lay under the shade of a tall oak. Cadvan was idly stroking her hair while her head rested in his lap as he rested his back against the trunk of the tree.

"Maerad?" he asked after a moment.

"Hmm?"

"Have I ever told you one of the greatest stories of all time?"

"Many of them. But I like hearing them. What's this one about?"

"It's about hurt, duty, friendship and, my favourite section, about love."

"I don't need to hear that one."

Cadvan glanced down, confused, and saw her looking back up at him.

"I've lived it," she told him, before sitting up slightly and kissing him gently. She pulled back slightly and gazed back at him, her eyes warm with love and affection.

He looked thoughtful for a minute. "We both have," he replied after a moment, "But our story won't end like theirs did."

"How did theirs end then?" she asked, curious now.

Cadvan flashed his dazzling grin at her, amused by her curiosity he asked her "Can I tell you the story? Just this particular section?"

She mock-sighed and laid her head back down in his lap. "Go on then. Just that section."

Cadvan smiled and leaned back against the tree again, his fingers returning to stroking her hair.

"There was once a queen who ruled over an exotic country. She had gained her land by pure intelligence, by begging a king for some land when he believed that a woman could not be intelligent to gain or rule any. But that's altogether another story. She had fled from her home when her husband had been killed by her brother and her husband came to her in a dream explaining what had happened. But that's yet another story. So this beautiful queen was building a beautiful city.

"A local ruler, a cruel heartless man, had asked her to marry him, not out of love, but since he wished to count her as a possession and gain her land. But she refused his hand, for she had promised to remain faithful to her husband, even after his death, an idea praised and exalted. Women who remained faithful to this pledge were remembered, their names carried down throughout history..."

Maerad smiled gently but stopped him before he could continue.

"Cadvan, the story. You're getting side-tracked again."

Cadvan smiled sheepishly before carrying on.

"So she was building this beautiful city. One day these men from a war-torn land came to her country; it doesn't matter how she met them. But they believed in many gods and goddesses, and the leader of these men was the son of one of these goddesses.

"Now, the queen met this great hero, this man who had come into her country. She held a banquet for him, his son, and his men and begged him to tell the story of the tragedies he had seen and the battle he had seen through to the end, so that she might better understand what he had been through. He had led his family out of the city, carrying his father on his back and leading his son by the hand while his wife followed. Unfortunately his wife became lost, and the father told his son to carry on with his grandson and he would follow, unfortunately he died before they could arrive.

"But the queen, ever since she had met him, had worried about him and had burned for him and this passion wore away at her. Her thoughts were distracted by images and memories of him and because of this she could barely sleep; she was obsessed by his strength and beauty."

He glanced down at Maerad, as he carried on talking, and was surprised to see a faint blush in her cheeks. She caught his eye and glanced away guiltily.

"Sorry, is the story not interesting", he said both apologetically and curiously.

"No, I'm enjoying it.It just rings truer than I thought." Cadvan simply looked at her; they knew each other well enough to not have to ask questions any more, and she answered his unspoken question.

"When you said that she couldn't sleep and was plagued by memories and images of him." Cadvan continued looking at her. Maerad held his gaze steadily for a moment before the blush in her cheeks returned.

Cadvan laughed quietly. "You weren't the only one," he said wryly and smiled down at her before continuing.


	2. Chapter 2

"_When you said that she couldn't sleep and was plagued by memories and images of him." Cadvan continued looking at her. Maerad held the gaze steadily for a moment before the blush in her cheeks returned._

_Cadvan laughed quietly. "You weren't the only one," he said wryly and smiled down at her before continuing._

_Chapter 1 has been updated, is now understandable and altered slightly._

Maerad looked up at Cadvan, caught off-guard by his comment, but he was already beginning to carry on with the story and so she settled down to listen again – she could get more information out of him later.

"Now, Queen Dido had a sister named Anna whom she was very close to; who she told everything and she spoke to her sister about her thoughts concerning this man.

"She told her sister about the dreams she was having about this man, she shared how attractive she found him, what she found attractive about him. She said that she believed he was a descendant of the gods and that she wished to know more of the wars he had seen and the fate he was forced to bear.

"She mourned that she had made a promise to remain faithful to Sychaeus, her former husband, even after his death. She had promised not to marry again, nor to join with anyone else ... in the rites of marriage, or in the bedchamber. She knew that if not for her promise she would have given way to this temptation since he was the only one who had affected her in this way after her husband's death. She unburdened herself to her sister, saying that she wished the earth to gape open for her, or that the leader of the gods should blast her to the underworld with his thunderbolt, before she dishonoured her conscience or broke the vows she had made.

"She believed that her husband's death had robbed her of the love she gave him and her ability to love. In this way she revealed her thoughts to her sister and sobbed."

He was interrupted by a small "aww" from Maerad. He smiled gently at her as he noticed her blinking back a hint of tears.

Maerad looked up at him and he quickly glanced away.

"Her sister replied to her and told her exactly what she wanted to hear – that Sychaeus would not begrudge her finding another love and that as her city was still young and the tribes around her were hostile, a joining would be favourable and even desirable. Dido then made many sacrifices to the gods and tried to understand what would be the best course of action by having someone read their entrails and reading others herself. Therefore, she was led to believe that it was not only acceptable but in her and her city's best interest to give way to this temptation.

"Now, one night, she was burning and raging throughout her city, in the same way a deer would who had been hit unknowingly by a shepherd. The deer might roam but the arrow still remained stuck in her side, just like Dido who wandered through the city but was still thinking of Aeneas.

"Other days she led him through the city and showed him the wealth of the city but while they were talking she would break off in mid-sentence, trying to keep her feelings hidden from him. Some evenings she wanted to have the banquet again, to hear him speak again and hang on his every word, she would go and find the couch where he had been seated and lay there thinking of him. While everyone else lay down to sleep under the pale moonlight, she lay in the house alone and grieved his absence.

"She knew he was not there with her yet she saw and heard him with her in her mind. Occasionally she would seek out Ascanius, his son, and due to his likeness to his father would sit with him and try and fool her unspeakable love.

"Work on the city she had begun stopped, the young men no longer practiced arms to be ready for any attacks and the cranes reaching into the sky were suspended."

Cadvan looked down at Maerad and was shocked to see the tears she had been restraining threaten to start falling and indeed a few were already trickling down her cheeks. He gently wiped them away and looked down at her as he stroked her hair lightly, waiting for her to speak.

She smiled up at him after a moment. "Sorry, I was just thinking how hard it must have been for her. She loved him so much but couldn't do anything about it. She had to stop talking for fear of letting him know how she felt. I can't imagine how hard it must have been."

"I can" muttered Cadvan quietly. Maerad looked at him more closely.

"Cadvan, no-one can imagine what that's like until you've lived it."

"I know."

He fell silent. Maerad quietly muttered, "Oh" under her breath as she realised he was thinking about a time in the past when he had had to do that. She briefly wondered if it had been Nerili or Ceredin or someone else.

"Who were you like that with? Was it Nerili?"

"No." He suddenly looked back down at her and flashed her one of his few rare dazzling smiles. "It was this beautiful young woman. I'd been her teacher and so couldn't do anything to tell her how much I loved her. I even ran out of a lesson once when we were getting too close."

"You've run out of more than one lesson then? You ran out of mine, but? I didn't know you made a habit out of running away from your pupils."

"No, I've only ever run out of one lesson."

Maerad didn't react for a moment before she suddenly realised he was referring to her.

"Cadvan, I never knew."

He smiled wryly at her, "That was the whole point of running away."

He leant down and captured her lips gently before she could respond. He pulled back still smiling.

Maerad reached up and idly stroked a strand of hair off his face.

"Carry on with the story then. Skip the bit about the city and any more about the gods; I want to hear about the queen."

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_Sorry I took so long to update this, exams etc. got in the way and I never seemed to have enough time sort this out even thought BlackFir got it back to me really quickly (Thanks BlackFir). But good news working on my Greek revision and not this paid off (at least I think it has.)_

_Also thank you to BlackFir for making this understandable._

_Will try and update next chapter soon, still just need to write it first._

_Please review, I'll give you a cookie (a big one) if you do._


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